Something Blue: Additionals
by CherryNekoChan
Summary: One-Shots that didn't quite make it into Something Blue. All compatible with said storyline, though not interconnected in any form or fashion. Sporadic updates at best.
1. Mistletoe

Summary

Mistletoe says everything for itself...

A/N: So I'm supposed to be sleeping, but I was completely smacked upside the head by this adorable piece. Spin-Off from **Something Blue**. That means it won't be mentioned in the story. I just really wanted to do this! The idea was also mentioned to me by a reviewer. At first I was all 'Nahh! Too cliche!' But, I've come to realize, I kind like cliche.

To my wonderful reviewers here on , This is just for you!

Anyways! Please enjoy!

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She hummed a catchy holiday tune under her breath as she waited for Itachi to hand her the last of their cooking ingredients. She was beyond thrilled that the Uchiha had changed his mind and decided to stay for Christmas dinner. And since he'd never made cookies before, she felt that the gingerbread cookie recipe was indeed called for.

"And then you just mix them like that! Now they're ready to be put into cookie form and sent into the oven!" Kagome chirped, grinning at Itachi's less-than-amused expression. The raised eyebrow pracitcally screamed arrogance. The priestess huffed good-naturedly and patted his arm. The flour caked onto her fingers smeared onto his black shirt. She winced. He sighed.

"Must you make such a mess?" Itachi asked needlessly. Glancing around, he realized that she didn't have to answer his question. It showed in her handy work. Kagome was a naturally messy girl.

He hated disorder.

With an inward grumble, he set about cleaning the kitchen. Again. His small friend giggled as she doled out the cookies onto a sheet and stuck them in the pre-heated oven. She then spun around and smiled hugely at him.

And, damn it, but he smiled back. He was completely powerless against her positive enthusiasm.

They talked while cleaning up the mess around them. Well, she chattered. He occasionally felt the need to put his two cents in. In the end, their teamwork was applied admirably and the kitchen was spotless once more.

"I'm gonna go change into my pajamas! Are you staying for the night?" Kagome asked, sauntering away from Itachi in order to keep from smacking him. It just wasn't fair that he was always right in their debates! She wanted to be right every once in a while!

"I haven't decided," he replied, smirking in victory as his opponent began to walk away. She started to pass the threshold of the kitchen before his mostly sharp eyesight picked out the small green bundle above her head.

"Kagome..." She stopped in the doorframe and turned back to him, "What is that?" For once, he seemed perplexed about something. He kept darting glances above her to something... hanging...

_'Oh... I forgot about that,'_ the priestess thought, flushing when she shot a look up.

Mistletoe.

"It's... mistlet- Haven't you heard of it?" When Itachi shook his head, she sighed, almost afraid to explain. He would understand immediately what the plant signified, and she really didn't want to scare him off... or give him any strange ideas about hereself.

"Mistletoe is a plant that is commonly used around Christmas." He nodded and she continued. "It's considered to be a symbol of life and fertility, a protection against poison, and an... aphrodisiac. A couple stand under the mistletoe and they... uhh... kiss." Kagome gulped, feeling her cheeks burn in embarrassment, before taking a deep breath and plowing on before he could start asking questions, "It's interesting, really, because mistletoe is actually a parasitic plant as it attaches itself to apple and oak trees and sucks the nutrients out of it. It's also said that the berries are poisonous. Weird, huh? Protection against poison even though the berries are poisonous?" She laughed a little too loudly for her liking.

"I... see. And this... mistletoe is a tradition from your... country?" Itachi asked, tilting his head to the side in question. This was much more interesting than learning about cookies. After all... if she was implying what he thought she was implying...

She nodded fervently, eyes wide and a little wary as he moved a little closer to observe the tiny green plant. She'd been incredibly lucky to find it just outside the village. The priestess had been so ecstatic that she'd clipped a little piece and brought it home straight away. Nevermind that she'd forgotten that most people around here didn't know anything about that tradition back in her dimension.

"And... According to this... tradition, I should..." he trailed off, finally realizing where this would be heading if he continued down that line.

"Only..." she whispered, her breath hitching when he leaned down and was nose to nose with her, "Only if you... want to." He smirked just slightly.

"Well... it is a tradition," the Uchiha muttered, his lashes drooping as the priestess gazed up at him helplessly, "and I am a traditional sort of man." His hand came up to gently trace her cheek and tilt her face up. Kagome's blue eyes darkened and slid shut, waiting.

The former heir bit his lip in a half-second of indecision before throwing caution to the wind and pressing his lips against hers gently. He literally felt like the breath had been stolen from his already abused lungs. And yet, he never asked for more than her small mouth on his. Even if he wanted more.

Kagome swore she saw sounds. This simple sweet kiss was nothing like the brief clumsy ones she'd shared with Inuyasha. Itachi was exceedingly careful; almost as though he thought she would break. Or disappear. She was completely transfixed; didn't want to step away. And he was only cradling her cheek tenderly in his palm.

And then he pulled away, eyes shut and breathing rapidly. She blinked and came back to the present. They stood there for a moment in an awkward silence, Kagome trying to think of a way to apologize for offending him, and Itachi calling on his considerable willpower to keep himself in check. He didn't want to scare her, after all.

"Itac-!"

"I'm fine!" he interrupted, opening his eyes and gazing at her again. She nodded and bit her lip. His senses were immediately drawn to that little motion. "I have one more question."

"Umm, okay?"

"... Can I have another?" She blinked then smiled timidly.

"Yes," the priestess whispered. He came close and smirked.

"Good." Itachi kissed her again. She willingly let him.

And their gingerbread cookies burned happily in the oven.

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A/N: Oh the sweetness. It just could not be left alone! You better check for cavities. Definitely OOC but I squee with the overall cuteness! This is only a side endeavour. It's compatable with **Something Blue's** storyline, but is not an actual part of it. I just really wanted to give you guys an extra Christmas present.

Merry Christmas!


	2. Birthday Wish

Summary

When she said she'd get him drunk on his birthday, she really meant it...

A/N: For all of you that wanted to see a Drunk! Itachi, here you go! I've noticed that when I've drank a lot, I'm still pretty coherent. I can still think fairly logically, I can still talk like I'm sober, and I can still understand what everyone is talking about. I guess I'm a weird drinker. Anywhoozles, enjoy!

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Going back to Kagome's house hadn't been much of a problem. Things had even started fairly tame. Kagome made a cake, he forced himself to eat a slice... or three. Itachi wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he really preferred it when the priestess cooked. Then again, he also had an extremely hard time saying no to her. Ever.

That may have been the whole reason why he was currently in a **very** awkward position with said priestess. He also blamed Kisame. The shark man had disappeared for almost an hour and came back with drinks. Alcoholic drinks. Very strong sake, in fact.

Itachi figured one bottle would be no big deal. Then, one turned into three, which then turned into seven. After that, he stopped counting. Simply because thinking **hurt**. And because Kisame kept pulling the damn bottles from nowhere.

Konan's logic was that they couldn't let it all go to waste. Kagome agreed with a hiccup and a cute giggle. Kisame merely snickered and continued to pour everyone more sake.

Now, the other two missing nins had disappeared; probably wandering back to the base in a drunken stupor. This, however, left him with one very drunk, very **playful** Kagome.

And therein lay his problem. A playful Kagome was a touchy-feely Kagome. A touchy-feely Kagome made him want to do... things. Lots of things.

_'Highly inappropriate things,'_ Itachi thought, before groaning inwardly and trying to stop that train-wreck of a thought. Thinking **still** hurt his head. _'When I get my hands on Kisame... I'll... do something... evil to him. Very evil.'_

"Heeeeyyy! 'Tachiiiii! Whatcha thinkin'?" Kagome slurred, grinning happily as she hiccupped again and swayed dangerously in her spot on the couch. Reaching over, the Uchiha stopped the dizzying movement by pulling her gently towards him. Either he pulled harder than he thought, or she was a lot more drunk than he thought, because he suddenly acquired a lap-full of pretty priestess. Her long dark hair spilled over his shoulders in disarray as she curled up against him and sighed loudly. "You're warm. You gotta fever?"

"No. I think we drank too much," Itachi replied, his words coming out surprisingly normal considering how much sake he'd ingested. She snorted inelegantly and swirled her cup she somehow managed to keep a grip on. Then, in a move that he felt would damn them both, she tipped her head back, exposing the line of her throat to him, and downed the last sip in her cup. His nose found its' way to the shell of her ear and traced it gently as his lips ghosted across the flushed edge of her jawline.

"Itachi?" Kagome whispered, stiff as a board, "What are you doing?" The former heir took a moment to really think about what he was going to do. Did he **really** want to ruin their friendship because he couldn't control himself?

_'No. I'd rather be sure she will reciprocate before moving things a step further.'_ He let out a heavy breath that tickled her ear and pulled away painstakingly slow.

"I'm deciding... that we've had enough, and that it's time for you to go to bed," the Uchiha muttered, taking her cup and setting it down on the coffee table somewhat forcefully. Stumbling up, he pulled the drunken priestess along with him, and between the two of them, they managed to get up the stairs. Kagome was a giggling mess by then and he was grumbling under his breath about "too many damn steps!"

"Puleeeaasee, Itaaachiii! You haven't seeeeen steps untillll you seeeen the shrrrrinne... steps," the dark-haired teen hiccupped in a sing-song voice, grinning up at him as she pulled him into her room, "Youuuuu are staying riiiight... here." She shoved him on the bed and he wasn't about to say no to her. Somehow, she managed to get him out of most of his clothes without any kind of seduction whatsoever before she tucked him in her bed like a child.

"What... What are you... Where are you going to... sleep?" he grumbled sleepily, already cozy and comfortable. He was surprised she didn't sleep all the time. Her bed was **comfortable**. And it smelled like her.

"Couch," was the short reply as she spun and started away, "Night night! Swwwweeeet dreaaaamssss!"

Itachi muttered something unintelligable under his breath and absently snatched Kagome's arm before she could get very far. The priestess blinked slowly, unable to process the quick motion with all the alochol in her system.

"Whaa-!" He tugged, and she went tumbling into the bed. Between one breath and the next, she was turned into a pillow that the normally "no touch" Uchiha clung to almost desperately. "Itachi!"

"... You should... stay... here..." he mumbled, burying his face in her shoulder and taking a deep breath before drifting off again. Kagome managed to sober up enough in that moment to realize that her very **male** friend wasn't wearing much as far as clothes were concerned, but then the sake kicked back in and she merely shrugged before snuggling down and dozing off to sleep.

It wouldn't hurt to stick around for a few minutes... would it?

Sometime during the night, Kagome managed to wiggle out of her pants due to the sheer warmth Itachi tended to give off in his sleep.

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When he came to, it was with a groan and a massive headache. Lifting his hand, Itachi rubbed his temples and moved to sit up. A soft grunt to his right made him rethink that idea; not to mention his right side was pinned by a body with long black hair. _'Kagome? What is she doing here?'_ Glancing down at the priestess, he sighed at he contented look on her face as she snuggled her face into his shoulder.

His bare shoulder.

That thought alone jolted him into full consciousness. Where was his shirt? Grasping the covers, he lifted them up and swallowed delicately. Where were his pants?

_'At least I'm not completely naked...'_ the Uchiha thought faintly, trying to recall what had transpired last night. He remembered the cake, and the sake. There had been **lots** of that. He also remembered kissing Kagome's neck...

_'Did I... throw myself at her?'_ That was a slightly horrifying thought. Especially considering he was always so cool about everything. Then his brain caught up with him and supplied him with the necessary information he needed. No, he hadn't thrown himself at her; although he'd come pretty damn close. He remembered them coming upstairs, Kagome had been singing him 'Happy Birthday' again. And then...

_'Nothing. I can't remember what happened next!'_ Taking a calming breath, he looked over the sleeping priestess and realized with a sense of relief that she was still wearing her shirt. _'Oh, thank the gods! If she hadn't been wearing clothes, I would have thought...'_ His face was dark red in about 3 seconds. Not that he would have minded, but he'd have like to have recalled the first time he ever slept with Kagome.

_'Okay, Uchiha, leave those thoughts in the gutter and pull yourself out of there. You can think on that later.'_ What he needed to do now was try to slip out of the bed without waking the unconscious girl up. He was pretty sure she was going to have as nasty a hangover as he was having. It **still** hurt to think, damn it!

_'Stupid alcohol! Stupid Kisame! Stupid hand brushing her bare thigh away from mine to make her move and-!'_ His entire thought process immediately stuttered to a halt. His hand. Was on her. Bare thigh. And then he returned to the gutter with a vengence as his hormones exploded.

_'Oh. Shit. What did we __**do**__ last night?'_ She was going to **kill** him!

"Ohhh... My head... Did anyone get that train's number?" Kagome groaned, pulling one of her hands away from his chest and raising it to her head.

_'I wish that train would come back and run me over again,'_ the Uchiha thought miserably, mentally making out his will, _'I leave the Uchiha District to Sasuke, as he will make better use of it than me. I leave my extensive collection of books to Kisame, even though he steals them without my permission and reads them anyway. And I wish I could have given Madara another black eye... or a kunai to the throat.'_

"Itachi? Why are you in my bed?"

_'Please come back train!'_

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A/N: Ahahahahaaaa! Awkward situations are here again! No, sadly, nothing happened between them. Get your minds out of the gutter, you silly people! I do, however, hope you enjoyed this deliberate torturing of the characters. Please review!


	3. The Other Scroll

Summary

Sure, he really didn't want to be blind, but that didn't mean she had to read over his shoulder like that! Or steal the scroll he stole from Madara.

A/N: Another little vignant. There isn't going to be any kind of flow with these. I'm just putting them up at random. Initially, this was going to be the Scroll chapter, but I changed my mind. In the end, I thought it fitting to put it with this little group of One-Shots. Picks up where chapter 19 left off. Enjoy!

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"What about this scroll?" Kagome asked, picking up a delicate looking roll of paper and examining it. Itachi glanced at it and furrowed his brow. What was that one again?

"That one... I'm not sure. Let me see it," he replied, holding out his hand to take it. Rolling the furled paper out, he read through the contents and had to suppress a sigh. "It's a summoning scroll." Completely useless to him in his current situation. He already had a summons.

"A... what?" the priestess blinked, confused by the wording, "What does it summon?"

"I just recently acquired it, so I have no idea," the Uchiha answered, carefully analyzing the wording and trying to decode the lore. "It looks as though it's some kind of dog." He wasn't about to tell the girl next to him that he'd actually rifled through some of Madara's scrolls in hopes of finding an interesting medical scroll that would help him. She seemed like the kind of person that didn't condone stealing.

"Well, read it to me and maybe I can help you out," she decided, bouncing excitedly in her seat at the prospect of working on a project with the prodigy. If it **was** a dog, well, that would be fun! Itachi looked over the scroll again and shook his head.

"Honestly, it makes little to no sense to me. I doubt you'll be able to figure it out." She huffed and sent him a glare that promised pain and lots of screaming, so to preserve his hearing, he cleared his throat and started reading.

_"Only one of pure blood may be deigned fit to bring forth the mighty beast of the moon. Those that are judged accordingly shall answer to the call of the general of the west, the Inu no Taisho of the house of the white dog."_ Itachi sighed and glanced at the dark-haired girl next to him for any ideas, then felt his stomach drop a little at the ashen color on her face. "Kagome? What is it?"

"It's... Let me see that!" Before he could open his mouth to answer, she snatched the scroll away and frantically read through the contents again. Even though the characters read slightly different than modern day Japansese, she could still understand it, for the most part. That, and her abilities as a priestess had given her something of a 'translator of tongues'. The words he just spoke spilled out of her trembling lips at a rapid pace, blue eyes wide and dark as she stared down the paper.

"Kagome!"

"Hang on! House of dog..." skimming over the words again, the former time traveler read the message once more before letting it really sink in. In a daze, she handed the scroll back to a worried looking Itachi and stared at her kitchen table. "It's so... simple. Of course no one would know if they'd never heard the legend."

"What legend?"

"The story of the great Dog General of the West. The Inu no Taisho," Kagome replied, blinking suddenly and taking a deep breath, "Unless... unless it **wasn't** him, but one of his sons..." She jumped up and spun to face him. "Teach me how to do this summon thing."

"You have no concept of chakra and its' intricacies. So, no, I will not teach you."

"But what if you taught me about chakra? Then would you show me how?"

"Summoning is a high-level technique that many ninja aren't even capable of doing," the former heir explained patiently, heart thumping when she gave him a pleading look, "You wouldn't have the needed control to perform something so drastic. Besides, with a summons like this, whatever happens to come out of this scroll will likely be big. You don't want to destroy your house, do you?"

Kagome sighed and shook her head, "No. I don't. And it would be a dog. A big dog, but still a dog. I just... I think I could summon whoever it is." She looked so downtrodden that he almost had no choice but to say the next words.

"If we can boost your ability to use chakra, then we will work on a summon. Agreed?" Between one heartbeat and the next, the priestess threw herself energetically into his arms with several happy "Thank-you's" and a squeal. Itachi blinked, not really sure how to take a reaction like this.

"You're... welcome." She ripped herself away from him a moment later, dancing happily around the kitchen table.

"You won't be disappointed! I'll be a great student!"

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A few weeks later, Kagome was eating her words as she tried again to conjure up a fireball from her mouth. The little ball of flames that she managed to spit out was impressive to her, but weak compared to the one Itachi could let out at will. She'd seen that one, and it had left her in a state of shock.

"I don't understand," she muttered a few moments later, wiping at her smudged cheeks and licking her parched lips. Itachi automatically handed her a water bottle and she easily drained half of it. "For all intents and purposes, I'm doing everything right."

"You're still fairly new at ninjutsu, Kagome. It will take time to get to the point that I am at," the Uchiha explained patiently, smothering the urge to smile when she merely grumbled and started in about it again, "Think of it this way; you have had no prior training. In fact, you may not even have an affinity for fire. You might be much more capable of performing water techniques or even something wind-based."

"So... do you think I can try a summoning now?" she asked, eyes wide in earnest. The former heir hesitated, then finally nodded. She'd been asking him every day, and he was tired of saying no to her all the time.

"It will probably drain you completely, and I'm not even sure it will take. You're blood has magical properties that ninja don't possess, so the contract may not even be summoned."

"I want to do this, Itachi." She was still unusually firm about the whole thing, and he really had to wonder why this was so important to her.

"... Very well, but I'm staying close by in case something goes wrong." He showed her slowly and carefully how to do the signs, what amount of chakra to use, and how to go about using it properly. "Of course, to summon the ultimate form, you must channel an enormous amount of chakra."

"... Okay. Like this?" She flipped through the signs with a grace he hadn't known she possessed and her powers flared to life around them. She was putting out an alarming amount of spirit energy, and it sent the hairs on his arms standing up in danger.

"Kagome! Don't-!"

_"Summoning Jutsu!"_ An explosion rocked the area, covering everything in smoke. Itachi coughed, Sharingan activated as his eyes watered from the dust. When it cleared, though, he wished he'd **never** shown the girl that scroll.

Because standing nose-to-muzzle with her was the largest dog he'd ever seen in his life. It was bigger than the **Hokage Tower**!

_'Oh. Shit.'_ The beast's eyes, bright vermilion in color, were focused completely on the small priestess standing stock still in front of it, low thunderous growls rumbling from deep in its' chest. Its' fur was white, no, bright silver, and flowed over its' powerful body. What drew the heir's attention, though, was not the sheen of its' coat, not its' bared teeth, which looked to be dripping some kind of acid onto the ground, and not those wild viscious eyes so intently fixed on the frozen girl; but the smudged indigo crescent moon on its' brow.

Kagome blinked, let out a small breath, and smiled tiredly up at the furred face as she reached out a hand to its' nose. The dog sniffed, taking her scent deep into its' senses, and let out a low whine before flopping down on the ground in submission. Itachi stumbled to regain his footing from the resulting quakes and cautiously approached the duo.

"Kagome?" She turned to him, and he met her bright blue eyes.

"Itachi? This is Sesshomaru-sama. He's the ruling Taiyoukai of the West. Onii-sama, this is Itachi, my new best friend."

Sesshomaru gave the mostly human boy a look and snorted, closing his eyes and letting the excited priestess rub his muzzle. It seemed he'd been called to protect the troublemaker once again, and damn if he was going to let **anyone** hurt her.

_'That includes this new __**friend**__ she's made,'_ the dog demon thought, set on ignoring the boy until he became a problem.

"... I should never have taught you how to summon." So now she thought the giant dog was her **brother**?

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A/N: And so ends the spoof of that chapter. I wanted to do it, but then I thought that having old Sesshy enter the Naruto realm in such a way would be a little too... cliche? Anywhoozles, I hope you enjoyed this.

You're welcome to leave a review.


	4. Baby Fever

Summary

Kagome finds out she's pregnant. Itachi wonders if he'll make a good father. Sasuke wonders if its a good idea for Itachi to procreate in the first place, and Naruto can't wait for the new addition to the family.

A/N: And I promised little looks into their lives after it all ends. So here's one. And I'm sooo excited! Enjoy!

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Itachi was sure he was in shock. He couldn't have heard his new wife correctly. They'd only been married two years!

"You're... what?" the new patriarch choked out, setting down the paperwork he'd been perusing to give her his full attention.

"I'm pregnant," Kagome repeated quietly, fidgeting slightly in worry. This hadn't been the reaction she'd been hoping for. She thought he wanted a family, "I'm about a month and a half along. I didn't realize it at first with all the stress that's been going on recently, so I never noticed when my period never showed. I was just... I thought you'd... want to know. I got a check-up and-!" Itachi snapped out of his daze and rose to his feet. She was obviously worried that he wouldn't approve.

Engulfing her in a tender hug, he hid a smile in her hair as she finally took a breath and sighed. "Tell me everything. Start with the check-up, and what we need to do."

"I... I'm scared, Itachi. What if I'm a bad mother?" He leaned back and gave her an incredulous stare.

"Really, Kagome? If anything, it's **my** parenting skills that we need to worry about."

"But-!"

"You'll be fine. You love chlidren."

"Didn't you say you raised Sasuke?"

"Practically from birth."

"And look how well that turned out," a sour voice stated from the doorway, making the two look up. Sasuke Uchiha, younger brother of Itachi Uchiha, stormed into the kitchen, soaking wet and high-and-mighty attitude firmly in place.

Kagome giggled and reached over to pull a hand towel from the stovetop. "Bad training day?"

"Like you wouldn't believe. Kakashi-sensei decided our **teamwork** needed some help and gave us the bell test again," Sasuke grumbled, taking the towel and wiping his face before glaring at the kitchen sink, "Naruto decided a Rasengan to a water clone would be an **excellent** idea and splattered me while I had a hold of it."

"How's Naru?"

"Tied to the stump. Again. He tried to steal lunch. Again."

"The boy never learns," Itachi muttered, making his younger brother snort and rest his gaze on the other Sharingan master.

"Why were you talking about how you raised me?"

"Well, Sasuke, we're going to have a new addition to the family!" Kagome chirped, taking the towel and sauntering over to the laundry room. Sasuke looked vaguely horrified.

"We're not adopting Sakura, are we? Because Naruto is enough of a handful around here! I don't want **her** destroying my room!" Itachi clocked the younger boy upside the head in annoyance.

"No, we are not adopting your other teammate," he sighed, watching the younger sibling rub his head absently, "No matter how much she begs. She has a family already."

"She's **begged** you?"

"Hey Bastard! What the hell is your problem, leaving me at the stump like that!" Naruto howled the moment he walked into the kitchen, making both Uchiha roll their eyes. There were days when they wished Kagome hadn't become so fiercely protective of the blonde. Now was one of those days.

"I'm pregnant," Kagome announced, making the two younger males freeze and give her enormous eyes. A feminine shriek alerted them to their final member of Team 7 trudging into the room.

"OH! CONGRATULATIONS KAGOME!" Sakura shouted, bounding over to the girl and hugging her tightly. Itachi was next to her in an instant, prying her off of his wife and swinging her behind him.

"**Do not** use that monsterous strength of yours, Haruno! I **will not** tolerate this baby being hurt!"

"Geez! It's not even born yet and he's already flipped his keister," Naruto grumbled, twisting his pinky in his ear in hopes to stop the ringing Sakura had caused when she screamed.

"Wow, keister? You couldn't think of something better?" Sasuke deadpanned, shaking his head when the blonde growled out "Hey!" in response.

"I want a baby..." the pink-haired girl sighed, staring somewhat longingly at the younger Uchiha as he argued with their knuckleheaded teammate. Itachi bit his cheek to keep from commenting.

_'Sasuke, you'd better be careful.'_

"So how far along are you Nee-chan?" Naruto asked, pushing aside a heated debate to see what he could learn.

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Seven and a half months came and went surprisingly fast to Itachi. In the time he'd first been told that he was going to be a father, he'd worried constantly about how he'd treat it, what would its' reactions be to him, how would he go about raising it differently from the way his parents had raised him? Would he even be a good father? Or would the nurses take one look at him and tell him to forget about it?

_'Despite Kagome's continued reassurances that I will be fine, I can't help but feel that this will change so many things.'_ They'd decided to keep the gender a secret, something his wife was excited about. He, on the other hand, was getting tired of calling it an 'it'. Would he have a son? Or a daughter? Would that child love him too, despite all the atrocious things he'd done? Truthfully, he believed he'd struck gold when he'd met and fell in love with Kagome. And the fact that she unconditionally returned that love and was willing to spread it to anyone and everyone she got to know? It was a sheer wonder.

Glancing down at the letter he held, he went over the words again and had to shake his head. Kisame had contacted him after he reluctantly sent the shark-man news about the future Uchiha. He'd surprisingly sent him several tomes of material he read through religiously. Apparently, the hanyou dabbled in a little of everything. Who knew the man knew anything about childbirth in general. This, of course, had led to Deidara later contacting him. The resulting scorch marks in the back yard had been part of the scuffle he'd endured from a small bomb the blonde had sent him in fury of getting "his future goddess" pregnant. Naruto and Sasuke had been forced to restrain him from going on a hunt for the former Iwa nin.

Now, he was waiting nervously to be let into the labor and delivery room with Kagome after the birthing was starting to get worried. What was taking so long? The door opened, admitting a pale-stricken nurse and he was on top of her almost before she could blink.

"Is everything all right? Is Kagome okay? What about the baby? Is it-!" She looked up at him, slight shock on her visible features before she relaxed, pulled off the mask, and smiled tiredly.

"Congratulations, Uchiha-san. You are the father of two healthy fraternal twins. One boy and one girl. The boy was born first, followed shortly by the girl." Itachi blinked and stared her down blankly. He he no idea...

".. Twins? I thought... there was only one?" She licked her lips and started to explain.

"Well, your daughter was hidden behind her brother, which is why we didn't see her until your wife started to push her out. It was odd that her heartbeat wasn't read at first. Did you have complications getting a heartbeat during ultrasounds?"

"The nurse said she kept hearing an echo, but said everything was fine and healthy." It was no wonder Kagome had gotten so big. She'd been carrying twins the whole time! "Is my daughter all right?"

The nurse almost goggled again. She'd never seen the infamous Itachi Uchiha look so worried. She nodded and stepped back towards the door. "Would you like to see them and your wife?"

"Please," he murmured, tired of waiting and worrying and wanting to know, with his own eyes, that his fragile new family was safe and sound. She hummed in agreement and pushed the door open, admitting him into the room. Several nurses were putting delicate looking instruments away, Tsunade standing in the middle and receiving congratulations on a smooth operation. The former missing-nin's heart was in his throat. There had been an operation?

Tsunade noticed him a second later and was striding quickly towards him, a large smile on her face. "Uchiha! Congratulations! Everything went well." He let the breath he'd been holding out. Everything was fine. But it was late, or early; he didn't care to figure out, and he wanted to see them.

"Lady Hokage, where are they?" She put an arm around his shoulder and steered him away.

"This way." Once they were away from the others, and he still hadn't relaxed, she patted his shoulder in a surprisingly consoling way. "They're fine, Itachi."

Around the next corner, she proved him right. Kagome was sitting in a hospital bed, flushed and messy looking, cradling one of the infants, while Sakura talked quietly to her with the other bundle. When the priestess saw him, she smiled brilliantly, and he was sure he'd never seen a more beautiful sight.

_'I can't believe she's still mine.'_ Settling next to her, he automatically reached for her hand and mustered up a small smile. "Everyone says you handled it well."

"It hurt. A lot. But it was worth it," she grumbled tiredly, blue eyes sparkling as she turned the baby in her arms, "Do you want to meet your son?"

Carefully, he pulled the baby from her and coddled him, something akin to wonder blooming on his face. This was his son. **His son**! He was so small!

Itachi knew in that instant that he loved him. That he loved both of them."Have you thought of a name?"

"I thought you'd want to name him, actually," Kagome replied, holding out her arms to take the other bundle, "But I get to name her."

"That... is an acceptable idea. What did you have in mind?" He glanced over at the tiny girl wrapped in her mother's embrace. She was squishy looking, and content as could be. He watched his wife's emotions flitter across her face; even now, she was still an open book to him. And then, he knew she'd decided when she gazed tenderly down at the child in her arms.

"Sango, because she's a fighter, and she's beautiful, like my sister." The patriarch remembered the stories that she'd told him of all of her friends in the Feudal Era, and specifically recalled all the amazing tales of the demon slayer woman that had been an older sister to her. He had to admit; it suited his little one.

"She would have been honored, Kagome." Tears gathered in the woman's blue eyes as she nodded happily. Looking down at the small bundle in his arms, he decided on a name.

"Kozue." Kagome looked up, taking in the picture of father and son. She knew he would make a great parent.

"It's perfect."

"Yes."

Sakura tiptoed out of the room, wiping at her wet cheeks. New parents were always so sweet to watch, and she was even more thrilled that it was these two.

"Their family will be so fun to watch grow," she whispered, smiling up at the ceiling where the sky would be, "and maybe, I can just convince Sasuke to start a family." The thought of holding her own little baby had her giddy.

Life was good.

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Sango- Coral

Kozue- Treetop

A/N: I chose Sango's name for obvious reasons, of course. For Kozue, I deliberated for a while between several names before deciding on this one. I like it, honestly. I hope you guys do too. Ironically, when I started writing this chapter, it was before I found out I was pregnant. So, this isn't a result of my good news, actually. Just felt like it would be cute.

Please remember to review!


	5. Bedside Manners

Summary

Itachi's bedside manners weren't the best, but it was better than being sick at home alone...

A/N: A small continuation of the small One-Shot in Chapter 4. Enjoy!

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Reaching a hand out, Itachi grimaced at the warmth emanating from Kagome's forehead and grit his teeth. If the ridiculous woman hadn't been out without an umbrella, she never would have ended up like this. As it was, she'd been trying to sleep off her fever for the past several hours, waking only to take the required dosage of medicine that he managed to force down her throat. Apparently, the small female disliked treatment as much as him.

_'Reckless. That's what she is.'_ With a muffled sigh, he rose to his feet and shuffled out the door, intent on grabbing a rag and some cold water to help reduce her internal temperature a little. It was strange, but he actually felt a twinge of worry every time he had to administer another dose of medicine to her; which, of course, should have been impossible, as he wasn't supposed to be attached to anyone. If this was how it felt to care about someone after all these years, he really wanted little to no part in it all.

For some reason, though, he couldn't seem to pull himself away and leave. Reaching over by the bedside table, he picked up her medicine again and poured out the correct dosage before leaning over and giving the sleeping girl a gentle shake to wake her up.

"Wake up. You need to take this next dose." Kagome retaliated by slapping his hands away and groaning softly. He could feel the corner of his eye twitch minutely as he reached over and flipped the girl onto her back.

"Guuh! Whu the hell?!" the stubborn woman gurgled out, snapping awake when her 'caretaker'- and she used that word lightly- pulled her into a sitting position and shoved the hated medicine down her throat for the umpteenth time that day before letting her go just as quickly. For some reason, Kagome got the distinct feeling that Itachi enjoyed making her suffer like this.

"Damn it, Itachi! What's wrong with you!"

"It is not I that is the one stuck in bed sick," the former heir ground out, giving her a deadpan stare before reaching out to steady her when she swayed, "You need to stay awake long enough to eat something. Here." With that, the stoic man set a tray with soup and toast across her lap and leaned back to survey the shocked expression on her face.

"You... made me soup?" Kagome stammered, gazing down at her tomato soup. Surprise quickly melted into adoration as she picked up her spoon and carefully dug in. "And it's not ramen?"

"You specified that you did not wish for ramen."

"... That is so sweet of you. Thank you!"

Itachi grumbled under his breath about not being sweet as he hauled himself to his feet and started out the door. "You must finish all of that before you go back to sleep."

"Wait! Where are you going?" the priestess asked, giving him a confused look that made his heartbeat kick up a few more notches. His body really shouldn't be doing that...

"Downstairs." _'Away from those eyes...'_ He disappeared. Kagome sighed quietly before a small smile made it's way to her features. Itachi could act as cold as he wanted, but this proved that he was a nice guy.

_'Really deep down in there,'_ she thought, grimacing in rememberance of the cool glares he had the tendency to send everyone. Maybe she could coax it a little closer to the surface.

Only time would tell.

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A/N: Really long ass hiatus. I've been physically and emotionally drained over the past several weeks, so I can't say for sure if I'm completely back yet. And it's hard for me to transition back to Itachi when I've been working with Byakuya for a while now. I hope this didn't completely suck.

Anyways, please review and let me know what you think!

Until next time!


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